List of Ctrl+Alt+Del characters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents 1 Main 1.1 Ethan Ryan MacManus (2002-present) 1.2 Lucas Davidowicz (2002-present) 1.3 Lilah Monroe (2003-present) 1.4 Scott (2002-present) 1.5 Zeke (2003-present) 2 Supporting 3 Characters who no longer appear in the strip 4 References

[edit] Main

[edit] Ethan Ryan MacManus (2002-present)

A 25-year-old of Irish descent, he is 5'11, 145 lbs ^[1]. His antics and plans - usually very-off beat, often nonsensical, sometimes straight-out moronic - are the focus of the strip, and have resulted in many a story arc. Once, he has tried to play Lucas' game, Warhammer 40,000, but quits after eight comic strips because of the absence of a video game in it.^[2] He is engaged to Lilah, after proposing to her on Valentine's Day in 2006, having done so by getting all seven high scores on a video game in the arcade to read "LIL" "AH_" "WIL" "YOU" "MAR" "RY_" "ME_".^[3] In February, he learned that Lilah is pregnant and he would become both husband and father soon, but in June Lilah had a miscarriage. He notionally works as a sales clerk at GameHaven, though he wants to be a video game creator and has shown the ability to be an inexplicably brilliant inventor when he wants something badly enough. He has problems with Rob, his coworker and a Counter-Strike enthusiast. Author Tim Buckley, a fellow casual gamer of Irish descent, has admitted in the FAQ setting that Ethan's appearance was initially loosely based on his.

Ethan is also the king and creator of the gamers holiday that is known as 'Winter-een-mas'; see below for more information. He also has an unhealthy obsession with the Fallout series and Lucas often has to make a huge effort to ensure he doesn't make contact with the series again. He got stuck in a vent in Bethesda studios when he had originally planned to steal a copy of Oblivion before it was released, through the grill behind him he could hear producers commenting about Fallout 3 alpha and tried to turn round in the vent, resulting in him being tangled up within the vent with the fire department being called to free him.

In 2007, Ethan is shown to be an extremely ethical gamer and as such, he started a new religion ("the Sacred Church of Gaming") by compiling a book, "Holy Instruction Manual", and delivering sermons, "massively multiplayer prayer". The religion has faced strong opposition among several "popular" religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam, to the point of "roughing him up", according to the leader of the three faiths. The start of the religion was triggered by a customer at GameHaven, when he asked Ethan for a strategy guide for a game the customer was about to buy. Ethan declined, stating that "cheating is a grievous sin against the natural order of gaming".

He has been known to do just about anything to get a new video game. In one story arc, he breaks into Besthesda Studios to get an early copy of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and in a recent story arc, he pretends to be Lucas to sneak into Bioware Studios, as he is not allowed at any video game company anymore, so he can acquire Mass Effect. This time he actually succeeds, only to discover that Zeke can't play it, as it is not a finished disc.^[4][5]

It was later revealed in a recent story arc that Ethan was obsessed with Everquest to where he dropped out of high school and had to get detox to stop playing.^[6][7] Lucas and Lilah try to kick his addiction by teaching his brain to handle it normally, he was later seen at 4AM trying to log on, and was thwarted by an alarm set on the account.^[8] Most recently, Lilah used what she referred to as a "level eighty female-only persuasion spell" in order to have Ethan treat Everquest normally. So far, it appears to be working.

[edit] Lucas Davidowicz (2002-present)

At 26 years of age, Lucas is Ethan's best friend and is more level-headed and down to earth than Ethan. He is something of a slacker, prepared to enjoy a good video game over actual work. Cynical and sarcastic, Lucas is a programmer, and has worked Customer Service at two computer stores. At Lucas's current job, his boss, Mickey, shares his distaste for ignorant people.^[9] Lucas only plays video games on the Xbox console and the PC, and sometimes plays Warhammer 40,000, and is responsible for keeping Ethan out of trouble (although he often fails at it), even to the point that he instinctively yells at Ethan when he hears a waiter drop plates while on a date. He has a habit of calling 911 in advance when he suspects Ethan is up to something. He is slightly jaded towards the concept of romance, mostly due to bad dating experiences in the past, one of which was so bad that he was forced to get a restraining order and another of which culminated in his girlfriend attempting to murder him. In a recent story arc, Lucas signs up for an online dating service, and Zeke sets him up on a blind date with a seemingly overweight woman behind his back. Kate turns out to be wearing a fat suit of some sort, and is in fact a beautiful slender woman.^[10] They are still dating, but Lucas has come to the realization that he does not love Kate. Lucas is also a fan of the series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin^[11].

[edit] Lilah Monroe (2003-present)

Smart and attractive, Lilah smashed Ethan's preconception that girls (or at least, cute ones) don't play video games, after which they began dating. Lilah is 25 and formerly worked as a secretary. A running joke is that Lilah would walk into a gaming store, only to have the men go insane at the thought of a girl buying games, and has to suffer all sad, spotty individuals drooling all over her. Though calm and responsible, she finds herself strangely drawn to Ethan's character. Online, she is known as "Black-Widow".^[12] She is currently engaged to Ethan. After winning third place at a gaming tournament, she quit her job to become a professional gamer. Her skill at gaming appears to increase dramatically when she is mad at Ethan, and she has been known to call him in the middle of a tournament in order to anger herself sufficiently to wipe the competition.^[13] She won first place in a recent 2007 tournament with her partner Jacob but spent the prize money to treat Ethan whom accidentally trapped himself in a bulletproof glass box for two weeks.

Although she seems sweet at first, she can get extremely frustrated and mad when someone (mostly Ethan) does something that annoys her.^[14] She also seems to have a fear of insects and arachnids.^[15]

In February 2008, a storyline began where Lilah found she was pregnant with Ethan's child^[16], causing Ethan to become shocked (and wet his pants, to her displeasure). However, she had a miscarriage in June.^[17]

[edit] Scott (2002-present)

A 25-year-old Linux user and supposed web designer.^[18] He has a pet penguin named Ted, which is, appropriately, a reference to the Linux mascot, Tux. He is quiet, intelligent, and introspective, and a devout practitioner of meditation. He's also referred to as a hippie from time to time, including when Ethan asked Scott for protesting advice.^[19] He appears to be working on a clandestine project in his room. He guards it by use of an electrified metal door, only ever activated when Ethan is snooping. A story arc where Emma thinks Lucas inherited money from a dead uncle suggests this person might actually be Scott. This would explain his funds despite the fact he does not go to work. It is a running joke that he has never really met, seen, or talked to Lilah in a comic strip, even though they currently live in the same house, constantly asking "Who's Lilah?" without getting a response.

[edit] Zeke (2003-present)

Zeke (short for Ezekiel, which was the name Ethan found spray painted on his rear), formerly known as the "Xbot", is a creation of Ethan's, an anthropomorphic Xbox/Xbox 360 hybrid console. He walks, talks, thinks, plays video games (Zeke was very good at Halo: Combat Evolved until Ethan handicapped his skills), had a strange crush on Ethan's GameCube, which he wants Ethan to turn into a female robot, and was shown in one comic "eating" bandwidth. He once had a severe malfunction and attempted to destroy all of the main comic strip characters, after Ethan accidentally hit him with a water bomb. He was eventually hit on the head and returned to his old self, but not before burning Ethan and Lucas' apartment down. Afterwards, due to heavy damage to his body that he got while protecting Ethan from incoming debris, he was remade by Ethan and later upgraded with Xbox 360 parts when his arm was severely damaged from a bullet. Prior to the upgrade, he was worried that Ethan would replace him when the 360 was released. In one story arc Zeke's hands were smashed by Ethan in an attempt to allow Ethan to beat him at two player games^[20].

Although he has not tried to harm any of the main characters since his malfunction, he has since active fantasized about killing humans and taking part in a global robot uprising.

[edit] Supporting

• Ted is a penguin^[21], in an apparent homage to the Linux mascot, a penguin named Tux. He moved in along with Scott and enjoys fish, the cold and seems to spend his nights sleeping in the fridge. Ethan and Ted have a deep relationship consisting primarily of mutual hatred, although it is mainly derived from Ethan. Ethan once found Ted standing next to his destroyed computer^[22], and held a completely rigged mock trial where Ted was to be found guilty and sentenced to death. Lucas thwarted this attempt at murder by proving Ethan was responsible for the destruction of his own computer.^[23] Ted recently fought Ethan's pet scorpion and claimed victory, the scorpion found impaled with a dagger, and stuck to the wall.
• Barry is 26, and owns the store where Ethan works.^[24] Though goal-driven, he is very easy-going. He is perpetually in a good mood, because he is living his lifelong dream of running a video game store. Barry and Ethan get along fairly well, yet sometimes they don't see eye to eye, which leads Ethan to commits acts of violence to get his way.
• Rob is a 19-year-old Counter-Strike enthusiast who works with Ethan and Barry at Game Haven.^[25] Ethan, Lucas, Lilah, and even Barry to some extent despise him because all he does is talk about Counter-Strike, with constant "you-had-to-be-there" tales. They are also greatly annoyed by Rob's constant use of "Dude" and "Guy" during his stories and during his everyday small talk. Ethan's hatred for Rob grows everyday, and hit a peak when Barry took Rob to E3 instead of Ethan. He's also a very talented 3D modeler, and worked with Ethan on his game, which was never finished.
• Chef Brian^[26] is the comic's non sequitur segment. With no back story, his appearances consist of nonsensical sequences of words. Chef Brian was the end result (as Buckley explains in Insert Coin: Ctrl+Alt+Del Volume One) of too much alcohol and a deadline, though some sources state that the character is based on Brian Carroll, author of the webcomic Instant Classic, or Brian Clevinger, author of 8-Bit Theater and friend of Tim Buckley. His biography on the Ctrl+Alt+Del website lists his occupation as "Beef Potato Wheelman", and says something short and random (not unlike his rants). Because of this, it can be assumed that Chef Brian "Wrote" his own character bio.
• Players 1, 2, 3 and 4 — A sub comic which focuses on four generic gamers colored blue, red, yellow, and green, respectively. All of these characters are almost certainly in reference to the way sprites were differentiated in multiplayer games in the 8 & 16 bit era, and related gamer and gaming etiquette, typically ending with the gruesome demise of at least one of the Players, reminiscent of Spy vs Spy.^[27][28]
  • Player One (2004-present) Player 1 is very anger-driven and extremely violent, often lashing out at the others simply for upsetting him. He is blue.
  • Player Two (2004-present) Player 2 is equally violent, but whereas Player 1 showcases severe anger management issues, Player 2 seems to suffer from psychosis. He is colored red.
  • Player Three (2004-present) Player 3 is portrayed as the rational member of the group and is often nothing more than another victim, though when being threatened he can go insane and become violent, once smashing Player One's face into the wall in self defense (although he apologized and said he'll clean the mess up). He is yellow.
  • Player Four (2006-present) Player 4 is the only female Player. Unlike the other Players, who are violent only when angry or upset, she becomes violent often just for her own amusement.^[29] She does not appear to be very intelligent, as demonstrated when she eats mashed potatoes that she had just poisoned. She is green.^[30] Her haircut bears resemblance to the character Yotsuba Koiwai ("yon", the first kanji in Yotsuba, is the Japanese character for four).

• Mickey — Lucas's boss. He is described by Lucas as "an Elitist Bastard" (as a compliment) and doesn't deny it. He hates Macs, AOL, and stupid people, and encourages the rude treatment of ignorant customers in order to discourage them from returning, a passion he shares with Lucas. However a few times even Lucas has been surprised by how harsh Mickey's insults can be.^[31]
• Tim^[32] — The author of the webcomic has drawn himself in on a number of occasions, though he does not normally interact with Ethan or the other main characters in the foreground. He did kill Ethan a couple of times with an arrow from off-frame, but Ethan found out and killed him the same way. Tim usually draws himself in special event strips, such as E3 strips, current event editorials, and major checkpoints for the webcomic (such as the 100th strip and 1st year celebration). Tim Buckley looks like a "hipper" version of Ethan in the comic.
• Jacob^[33] — Lilah's coworker and partner in two gaming tournaments. Jacob was an unseen character until the October 9th, 2006 strip. Ethan, jealous that another man gets to game with Lilah, comments to him, "You're not nearly as fat or ugly as my delicate ego needs you to be."
• The Glossary Guy^[34][35] — The Glossary guy is knowledgeable with gaming terms and exists to define them. He has red hair and a mustache, and wears a tuxedo. He has never been seen with his eyes open. He was part of a short filler arc and a recent comic and is sure to return again soon.
• Kate — A red-headed, turtleneck sweater-wearer and vegan, with whom Zeke set up a date for Lucas as a malicious prank, pretending to be him on the dating site that he had been visiting. She turns up at Lucas' shop at closing time for their date as a somewhat overweight woman^[36], and Lucas goes out on the date with her because he felt "guilty" about whatever mix-up caused all of this. Kate works as a television wardrobe assistant. Despite sharing Kate's interests and receiving many good signs while on the date, Lucas is uncomfortable and vaguely repulsed. Upon returning to her apartment, Lucas is speechless as she is miraculously slimmed down, apparently having used a fat suit in order to test him to see if he was a creep or not.
  The later introduction to Ethan and Lilah^[37] revealed Ethan's antics are largely unsurprising because her line of work allows her to meet people stranger than Ethan^[38]. In the third story arc involving Kate^[39], she became comatose after being stung by Ethan's pet Scorpion; however, she awakened not long after, interrupting an introspective Lucas at her bedside, who had realized in the midst of the crisis that he does not love her. They are still dating, as Lucas either hopes that a spark will develop or is simply unwilling to go back to a single lifestyle. Most recently, Lucas and Kate came to a compromise in their relationship that stated that they would stay together and date but would not have any real commitment, and if either of them found another person they liked, the relationship would cease.^[40]
• The Gods of Gaming — There are 8 spirits of Gaming^[41][42] that appear to represent various video game genres, (Action, RPG, Racing, etc.), So far only 2 have had a proper introduction in the comic.
  • The Spirit of Retro Gaming — The Spirit of Retro Gaming has only appeared in three strips (two he is heard but not seen). He is a representation of the retro gaming genre. He sends Ethan to play a game of Pitfall! in which failing will cost him his life. He is the Herald of the Gods of Gaming.^[43]
  • The Spirit of First-Person Shooters — This spirit is also known as "He who headshots most precisely".^[44] He has only recently appeared, and has currently given Ethan guidance as to what to do for Winter-een-mas. Ethan has currently communicated to him while in an unconscious state, which he reached via hyperventilation as "large quantities of alcohol didn't work"^[45]. His duty is guiding the FPS genre, apparently: "the last time [he] took a nap, Bungie forgot to put a proper end in Halo 2".^[46]

[edit] Characters who no longer appear in the strip

• Sara^[47] — dated Ethan in the early strips for an undisclosed amount of time. Beat Ethan up after he cancelled their date to watch the Vision of Escaflowne marathon with Lucas. Tried to get him off video games^[48][49][50] but finally dumped him^[51]
• Vodka Bottle^[51] — Flying bottle of vodka. This is Ethan's best friend in alcohol-related times. The vodka bottle flies beside the drunken Ethan and reminds him of the reasons he's drinking, often taunting him to drink a bit more.^[52] This character made many appearances in the earlier strips, after Ethan and Sara split up. Ethan has inquired the bottle as to why he wants him to drink, when he [Ethan] suddenly realizes that it's a stupid question.
• Christian^[53] was Lilah's boyfriend before Ethan, and his exact opposite. He is extremely wealthy and has a massive ego. Christian considers videogames to be silly and thinks that the people who play them are simpletons. He offered Ethan $5000 to stop courting Lilah so that she and Christian could date, even though Lilah had repeatedly refused him (Christian) despite his wealth. Ethan responded by punching Christian in the face. He smiles almost all the time.
• Ashley^[54] — Dated Lucas after hitting him with her car. Became obsessive and stalked him. Lucas filed a restraining order against her and she hasn't been seen since, except as a daydream in the August 4, 2006 issue to give relationship advice to Lucas.^[55]
• Josh — The impostor king of Winter-een-mas. When Ethan heard about Josh he went into a rage, sneaked into the TV studio where Josh was being interviewed and promptly defeated him, proving once and for all on national TV that Ethan is the true king of Winter-een-mas.^[56]
• Emma^[57], — A serial killer/con artist who dated Lucas. Was fired from her job at a stereotypical electronics store, which resembled Best Buy, after refusing to help Ethan. Conspired to kill Lucas when she thought he had inherited money from his dead uncle, which is actually in reference to Scott. Currently in jail. She was recently seen in the August 4, 2006 issue giving relationship advice to Lucas (in the form of a day-dream).^[55]
• Ace Conklin — Emma's real boyfriend, and partner in crime. He posed as a sky diving instructor in one of many attempts to kill Lucas. He is now in jail along with Emma.
• Gord — An extremely fat hired goon of Ace's, who was hired to kill Lucas in a skydiving accident. Ace implied he killed Gord because Gord failed to kill Lucas.
• Faceless CEO is head of a generic video game company, and is hell-bent on taking control of Winter-een-mas from Ethan and merchandising it. In 2005, he sent Josh to usurp the position of "King of Winter-een-mas."^[58] In 2006, he kidnapped Lilah, and held her for ransom.^[59] The first time, Ethan thwarted him; the second time, Ethan gave up his rights to Winter-een-mas to save Lilah, but when the video game company tried to commercialize the holiday, its customers immediately boycotted it, driving the company into bankruptcy.
• Miranda — A nurse who offers to drive Lucas home after Ethan and Lilah leave him at the hospital. Lucas and Miranda seem to hit it off,^[60][61] however Lucas receives some relationship advice from Emma and Ashley (in the form of a day-dream) after speaking with Ethan.^[55] Last we saw Miranda, Lucas was throwing her number into the garbage bin.^[55]
• Casey Collins^[62] Casey Collins was the host of CAD TV, a gaming news program that had several strips in CAD. Last time he was seen was reporting on WoW.
• Scorpion —Scorpion is a (apparently venomous) scorpion that Ethan bought on a whim at the mall, and then named after the Mortal Kombat character, Scorpion (A revelation to which Zeke responded with '...wow'). Although fairly large for a scorpion, Ethan actually assumed that Scorpion was an infant, and would grow to a huge size, based on the knowledge of scorpions he had gleaned from Pitfall. Ethan then proceeded to misplace Scorpion. Kate was apparently stung by it, and slips into a coma shortly thereafter. After Ted engaged him in combat, Scorpion is impaled on the wall with a knife. Ethan is convinced it took its own life.
• Ethan and Lilah's fetus^[63] Lilah was pregnant with Ethan's child, before having a miscarriage due to Lilah's blood type attacking the fetus.

[edit] References

• News Article
• 6 Page Preview